


New Year, New You, New Me

by artsyChica2012



Category: Scandal (TV)
Genre: F/M, Olitz
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-26
Updated: 2018-12-26
Packaged: 2019-09-27 23:42:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,183
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17171708
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/artsyChica2012/pseuds/artsyChica2012
Summary: This is the sequel to 2017’s Holiday Olitz, Mistletoe. Feeling that he had no reason to stay in the states, Fitz had taken himself away for the holidays to a private resort in Belize. Olivia had surprised him by tracking him down and showing up on Christmas Eve and a Merry Christmas was had by all… but now it’s New Year’s Eve…





	1. Chapter 1

**Belize**   
**New Year's Eve**   
  
  


There was magic in the air tonight. It was dancing along her skin, electric, effervescent. Olivia guessed that it was around ninety minutes before midnight.

She could feel Fitz's eyes on her, even though he was half way across the deck where she'd left him leaning against the railing of the huge yacht that they'd boarded a few hours earlier. Olivia found herself momentarily caught up among the glittering groups of party-goers who had also been invited to this exclusive excursion and found herself laughing at the happiness all around her before she turned her mind back to her mission.

Her intentions had been to find a waiter and retrieve two more glasses of the excellent Dom Perignon Brut champagne that she and Fitz had been sipping on all night, but that - she thought to herself - was what she got for being impatient, for being greedy.

But then again, she'd been greedy and impatient for things other than champagne in these last few days, ever since she'd showed up unexpectedly on Fitz's doorstep. Or more truthfully, ever since she'd showed up on his private beach on this private island, seven days ago on Christmas Eve. That thought made her smile; she realized that she'd been doing a lot of that these last few days - and with good reason.

Olivia finally reached her objective; the waiters circulating among the guests carried trays varying from crystal, ivory, silver and gold, depending on the variety of champagne they held; the crystal trays carried the vintage she'd been seeking and she quickly caught the waiter's eye and collected two glasses.

Mission accomplished, she turned back toward the main source of her greed and impatience; Fitz was looking almost unfairly handsome in his ivory tails and tux and his gaze was focused directly on her as she crossed the deck to him.

"You know that I hate to see you go, but I love to watch you leave." Fitz's eyes were warm as they traveled up and down her body and his voice husky with heat and desire. "And you look twice as good when you return."

"Seriously, Fitz?" Olivia shook her head at him as if to scold him, but her laugh made the gesture a lie as he lifted her carefully - mindful of the drinks she held and spun her around slowly before setting her down again.

She was breathless - and not just from laughing - once again excited by the merest touch of his hands on her body.

"Seriously, Livvie." Fitz accepted the glass she handed him; their fingers brushed up against one another's as he did and just that quick, his heart beat a little faster - Olivia wasn't the only one affected by a simple touch.

Fitz's eyes sparkled with more than the champagne as he gazed down at her. "I just can't get over how amazing you look."

"Right back at you." She said, meaning every word. If he thought her beautiful, then he was the cause of it. Olivia had no doubt that she looked as elegant as any other woman aboard tonight. But beautiful? In her mind, what made her beautiful was the glow that Fitz's presence kindled in her.

She was dressed in white and gold, in a strapless gown that had reminded her of the one she'd worn the night Fitz had been shot the moment she'd seen it, the one that he'd never even had the chance to see her in, the main difference being that the silver-gilt embroidery was replaced with gold. It glowed warmly against her brown skin perfectly and even coordinated subtly with the stitching in the vest of Fitz's outfit. Olivia promised herself that she would tell him about the resemblance later, maybe, when the night was almost done. But right here and right now, she wasn't going to allow a single memory of sadness intrude on their night.

His reaction when he'd first saw her tonight was everything she had hoped for that long ago night, and everything she could have wanted on this one.

"Amen and hallelujah!" he'd said reverently when she'd opened the door to her hotel suite.

"It must be the company I keep." She said. Up until now, it's all been something like a dream. And the best was yet to come.

**December 27th…**

Up until now, it's all been something like a dream.

They're back in her rooms and really, the only reason they were there was because two days after Christmas - which admittedly they'd spent mostly in bed - Olivia had decided that she needed a change of clothes.

But now that they're here in her rooms, here she was, dressed in nothing but his shirt  _again_  - not that she's complaining.

She's sitting cross-legged in one of the lounge chairs on her private balcony, with Fitz stretched out on the one next to hers, shirtless, reminding them of the reasons they'd come back to her suite to begin with.

"Do you really need anything else to wear?" Fitz had said. He'd grinned at her in that way he had, the kind of grin that made her feel as if nothing else in the world existed except the two of them and it all began and ended with her. "You look pretty good to me just the way you are."

"You say that no matter what I'm wearing." Olivia replied lazily. She unfolded her legs and stretched, smiling as she felt his gaze slide up their soft brown length with a great deal of appreciation. "You say that even when I'm not wearing anything."

"You say that like it's a bad thing." Fitz turned his head and grinned at her; the look he gave her was so full of heat and promise that if they weren't careful - if she let him have his way - they'd end up right back where they'd started.

Olivia smiles to herself as her mind drifted back to earlier. The first thing she'd asked Fitz to do when they'd arrived in her rooms was to order up something light for lunch. It was an excuse to allow her to slip away to check on a few things in the linen closet that lay in the space between her bedroom and the luxurious bath.

A conveniently placed stool allowed her to reach the top-most shelf and there, just where she'd requested just where she'd requested it be placed, was the little Tiffany-blue gift box. She'd known better than to have placed it in a more obvious place, like her nightstand or wardrobe; her eyes would have kept straying to it and Fitz would have noticed, of course, and that would never do.

Inwardly, she'd hugged herself like a little girl with the most delicious secret; one that curled around her insides like a swarm of butterflies, making her feel all kinds of crazy happy and made it a struggle, impossible, really, to keep the silliest smile off of her face. In fact, Olivia was still smiling to herself when Fitz surprised her by coming to stand behind her. She'd been so wrapped up in her thoughts for a moment that she was only conscious of him being there was the touch of his hands, warm and firm as they slid up the backs of her thighs.

"Lunch has been delivered." He announced. "But what are you up to, Livvie?"

The fixer in her already had her answer ready, but her words came out a little more breathless than planned as Fitz's hands slid possessively to her hips. "I was checking to see if the hotel had delivered the extra bath sheets that I'd requested."

"Oh?" Fitz's answer sounded a little distracted and perhaps he was, since his hands had found the fastenings of her capris and very skillfully unfastened them before lightly tugging on them so that her hips were being slowly bared. "Any particular reason for the request?"

"I was thinking…" Olivia's words trailed off as Fitz's possible distraction was rapidly becoming  _her_  definite distraction. The height change caused by her standing on the step-stool put certain body parts of hers in direct and delicious contact with Fitz's. Tendrils of heat began to spread from where his hands gripped her and guided her backwards, just hard enough so that she could feel the slowly growing length of him against her backside, at the sweet juncture where her thighs met.

The action fueled her own naughty thoughts. She tried again. "I was thinking that the thought of you wrapped in one was -"

Her breath caught in her throat as Fitz flexed his body against hers, his hips pressing forward, then up and down, creating the most delicious friction. She's also at the perfect height for Fitz, so all he had to do was lean forward and he could nuzzle his face into her neck, just in the right spot, where her neck curved into the smooth line of her shoulder…

"Mmhmm…" Fitz murmured. "Go on…"

Olivia bit her lower lip as his touch raised goosebumps on her skin; as if they had a mind of their own, her hips swivel backwards against his firming erection "…I was thinking of how much I'd enjoy unwrapping you."

"I like the way you think, Livvie. Do you want to know why?" Before she could answer, he had turned her around and pulled her body hard against his own.

A fresh heat blossomed low down in her belly; Olivia's eyes locks with his. She brings her hands up, fingers first trailing their way over the curves of his ears before finding their way to the back of his head, sliding into the thick waves of his hair.

"Tell me." She said, her voice husky with arousal.

"Because I like the idea of unwrapping you right now."

They'd gone walking on the beach earlier before their arrival in her rooms and now with him being so close, Fitz smelled of the sun and the ocean and beneath it all the unique man-scent of him and with no other reasons than that she's close to melting into his arms before she's even thinking about it.

He leans in closer until his breath is mingling with hers; Fitz's voice drops to a heavy register that crashes through her like a rumble of far-off thunder, a promise of the storm to come. "Can I, Livvie? Can I unwrap you?"

Something about the way he's asking permission sends a wave of heat through her, something in the way his eyes are darkening even as she's watching draws her in and then she's brushing a whispered "yes" against his lips.

Fitz slips her clothes from her body, his own following quickly after hers. His mouth is everywhere she needs it to be, one moment kissing her deeply, then next, slowly scattering heated caresses across her throat and shoulders, finding her hardening nipples with hungry lips and tongue, drawing them into his mouth and lavishing each one with attention until they are stiff and aching and she's anything but stiff, she's almost boneless with desire in his arms and warm and wet and aching…

He hooked one leg over his arm and raised it, opening her body to him, sliding himself against her, feeling her wetness glide over him as he teases her, teasing them both. Olivia moans with the sensation and so does he and then they're kissing hot and slow, his tongue thick in her mouth, plundering her senses, snatching all of her air, but who needs to breathe when their bodies are so close, when she can feel his rigid stiffness sliding against her most sensitive spots and she's actually throbbing,  _dripping_  with need…

"We'll play later, baby." He promised her. "But right now all I can think about is being deep inside you. Just. Like.  _This_." He groaned as he put action to his words, drilling deep inside her in one rough thrust, feeling her insides clench and shiver around him and all of a sudden he can feel her coming, just from this single stroke alone and the feeling is almost enough to buckle his knees.

They stay like that, still for a moment, savoring the fullness and the sudden wash of heat that threatens to drown them both in pure sensation. And then he begins to move.

She's hyper-aware of every rigid, pulsating inch of him, an unimaginable pleasure floods out from her core to meet him, a rising wave of desire that peaks and ebbs and then peaks again in a series of orgasms as he holds himself perfectly still with iron control. And then he begins to move.

Making hot, incredibly erotic love in the afternoon, with the sound of the ocean a distant backdrop to the sounds they were making was all kinds of heavenly, taking them to a space that they hadn't experienced before, where they can't tell where one of them stops and the other begins. The sunlight bares more than their bodies, it's illuminating something open and joyous deep inside of the both of them and it may be daytime, but the both of them were seeing stars…

And when they were done, they shared a shower, because, of course - and it was as though the sunshine had followed them, there was an incredible sense of lightness between them, all tenderness and love, with soft laughter and soapy iridescent bubbles everywhere and if it were not for her insistence on lunch, would have turned out much differently than it had.

But Fitz had relented in the end - under protest, he pointed out - and they dry each other off with thick over-sized towels, which only started them laughing all over again since the conversation about towels was what had started their afternoon love-play to begin with.

Olivia claimed his shirt and after a minor protest, Fitz gave in, retrieving the rest of his clothing and wandering out onto the balcony, while Olivia slipped on his shirt with a sense of victory and lingered behind a moment to smooth coconut oil conditioner into her hair before joining him.

There are two patio loungers placed side by side beneath the balcony awning; Fitz is in one and Olivia sits cross-legged on the other just so she can have the pleasure of watching him, his eyes closed, at his body. He was unconsciously sensuously at rest, all long lean muscle, with a body that a man half his age would be proud to possess.

She follows his example, closing her eyes and stretching herself out on the chaise lounge; Olivia sensed movement, and guessing at his actions, put out one hand to find his waiting for hers in the small space between the chairs. They lie there together for a time, fingers idly caressing one another's, enjoying the heat and the sounds of an eternal summer day.

"You're thinking." Fitz said after a while.

"I'll have you know that I'm currently incapable of any level of coherent thought." Olivia peeked over at Fitz, who was still lying on his back, eyes closed but with a smile dancing around the corners of his lips. "And you have no one except yourself to blame for that."

"You're welcome." Fitz's chuckle was rich and warm and it was clear that he didn't believe her for one single, solitary second. "And quit trying to change the subject - you're thinking about thinking - you can't fool me, Livvie, I can tell."

"So." He shifted his body so that he was facing her. "Are you going to share?"

Olivia didn't answer him right away and when she did, her words surprised him. Maybe they surprised them both.

"I want to date you." She blurted out suddenly.

"Date me?" he echoed her words in surprise.

"Just while we're here." Olivia's words rushed out as she tried to explain. "I want a day that ends with late night phone calls, with me here and you there -"

One hand gestured out towards the beach where Fitz's lavish bungalow lay out of sight before she continued.

" - because I want to miss you. I want to miss you knowing that it's only a matter of the hours and distance between us - that it's not anything either one of us has done to hurt the other and not anything outside of us is keeping us apart. I want to lay in my bed, knowing you're on the other end of the line and know that everything is good between us -"

He looks at her, puzzled but not admitting it out loud.  _Everything is good between us._  Fitz wanted to reassure her, but he knew Olivia well enough that he was very careful to bite his tongue and remain silent.

Olivia sat up, not letting go of Fitz's hand, hoping beyond hope that he understood what she was trying to say. "I want to ache for you that tomorrow is there for us and I want you to know it - to see it in my eyes how happy I am to see you - all of you - and that you know that I will never, ever take you for granted ever again."

As silent as he's been, Fitz feels that now he has to speak up. "Livvie, whatever else we've had between us, I've never thought that any your actions came from a place of taking me - of taking  _us_  - for granted -"

Olivia shook her head, grateful that her action silences him; she doesn't let him finish; what's in her head and in her heart feels like something new and she's trying to get it all out in just the right way, with just the right words.

"The day I arrived - the entire evening we spent together - I want that. I want more of that." She said. "That feeling when we agreed to meet for drinks, that feeling when I stepped off the elevator and our eyes first met."

She can still remember how her insides had lit up when his eyes had met hers from across the crowded lobby. "And I - I want to walk into a crowded room or bar or whatever and watch your eyes light up when you see me and I want to get butterflies in my stomach because I've missed you."

Fitz watched as the memory of that evening danced behind her eyes and suddenly, he understood it all.

Her last words went straight to his heart.

" I want to earn you, Fitz."


	2. Chapter 2

"Livvie, you don't have to -" he started to say. "I don't want you to ever feel that you need to earn me -"

"You don't understand, Fitz. I  _want_  to."

It was her turn to fall silent, but in that quiet Fitz saw through both her words and her silence. He saw how deep that wanting went, what she really wanted, what she really needed. He understood her sudden need to cram a lifetime of normalcy into these few days. It wasn't hard for him to be reminded that they'd never really had what other - normal - people had had, the first heady days and weeks and months of a new relationship.

Instead, everything between them had been crammed into the pressure cooker of lives lived in DC from the very start. But for a few days at least, they had time to live as though they were just like everyone else. Even if they weren't.

Besides, when had Fitz ever been able to tell her no?

They were still holding hands; it only took a simple tug to bring her out of her chaise to cross the tiny space between them and then to sink down to sit beside him even as he sat up to meet her face to face.

"I like it." Fitz said, looking deep into her eyes.

"You do?"

"Why are you so surprised?"

"I tracked you down, did my best to seduce you - now I'm suggesting that we back up a little - and you don't have a problem with any of this?"

Fitz grinned at her. "The seducing went both ways, if I recall things correctly - but feel free to seduce me any time you feel the need to over the next few days. I promise you that it won't bother me at all."

"You're terrible." She told him, even as her eyes told him the exact opposite.

"No I'm not." Fitz told her, just before he snatched a kiss from her lips.

"What I am is the man who loves you." Having kissed her once, Fitz found himself unable to resist kissing her over and over again, taking the time to capture first her upper lip and then her lower between his own, humming appreciatively as her mouth softened under his. Eventually he drew back reluctantly. "I'm the man who knows you. You need your space sometimes, so I'm going to give it to you - no questions asked."

"No questions asked?" Olivia sounded unsure. "Fitz, are you sure? I mean, you have the right to -"

"That may be true - but I don't feel a need to. I get it - I get you. Always have, always will. And this is different; this isn't you running from me, this is you running to us. You want some of what, in your mind, every other couple in the world has had - and what we never got a chance to."

Fitz leaned forward to cup her face in his hands. "I didn't think of it, but now that you've brought the idea up, I want this too, Liv."

"You do?" Her eyes fill with wonder.

His eyes darkened with emotion. "Of course I do. The chance to woo you the way you've always deserved to be wooed? If anything, I should be apologizing for not thinking of this myself."

Her gaze shifted, briefly unreadable and then they were suddenly shimmering with emotions of her own as her hands came up to cover his. "You don't think it's silly?"

"I don't think it's silly." Fitz kissed her again, all tender and loving, proving the truth in his words without speaking.

"Today's the 27th." Fitz began calculating out loud. "We'll work out something for your overnight apart from me - but I'm warning you now, I'm not going to make it easy for you."

"You're not?"

"Seducing, remember? With wooing, comes seduction." Fitz smiles at her again. "This is starting to sound like fun."

"Livvie, however we leave this island is how we're going to be - and I'm fine with it no matter what. It really is up to you. So do your thing, baby, because I'm definitely going to do mine."

And it turned out just the way he said it would be.

His thing - as it turned out - was to woo her, and Fitz pulled out all the stops to do it. He'd started his wholesale seduction that very same day, right after his stating his intentions, drawing her down into his arms and kissing her until the world was spinning off of its axis, until she was nothing more than a gasping, trembling mass of nerves from head to toe before scooping her up into his arms and carrying her off to bed.

And it only got better from there.

So they'd played Olivia's pretty little fantasy and Fitz had had to admit - if only to himself - that something had been satisfied deep within him, and best of all, it had satisfied them both.

First and foremost, it was  _fun_ , they were fun together, taking advantage of the amenities of this very private resort.

One of the unspoken rules of this private island was that whatever happened here, stayed here. With paparazzi and other news hounds basically forbidden access, that meant that they were free to walk along the beaches without being worried about long range photo lenses being aimed at them. Sometimes they talked, sometimes they just - were.

They also felt free to enjoy long casually leisurely brunches and a few elegant dinners in elegant dining rooms beneath crystal chandeliers which gave Olivia the excuse to don elegant dresses for Fitz's pleasure and delight. They both enjoyed a million of the little things that other couples do without a second thought, like Fitz holding out her chair as they were seated when they dined out in public, and how he allowed himself the luxury of running soft fingers along the soft curve of her shoulders before he took his own seat and there was a sharing of smiles at how it casually announced to the world how things were between them.

It was a ridiculously pleasing thing, this casual claiming of one another, to stand together in a room and not bother to hide that they were in the same space together, his hand around her waist as they stood at the piano bar during a jazz session with the other guests, her slipping her hand into his as they walked, or letting her head rest on his shoulder as they danced, closing their eyes as they slow-danced to a love song, Fitz holding her close.

It turned out that she only spent one night apart from him, it was all that she could stand being away from him - or he from her - and they had spent most of that night talking, and maybe in its own way that had been the most magical night of all, where they'd talked about everything that was and had been and everything they hoped would be.

Instinct had tempted them to avoid what they could of the most painful parts of their past when they were face to face, but even so,the need for a final honesty between them drove them to moments when she'd cried in his arms - or he in hers, as they released years of countless moments of hurt and pain and regrets and guilt and doubt.

Sometimes it was done in silence - with arms wrapped around one another, beneath breathtaking sunsets and quiet dawns. Other times it was woven in the language of love and laughter, letting go of those hurts in the minutiae of moments of everyday life, as they prepared meals together in Fitz's kitchen, with island music blasting that led to other moments of holding one another, losing themselves in dance and laughter and a new understanding of one another.

And then it was New Year's Eve.


	3. Chapter 3

That morning, Olivia woke up in an empty bed in Fitz's bungalow, her body diffused with a delicious ache from head to toe, in tumbled sheets that smell like Fitz - that smelled of  _them_.

For endless moments, she's in that space between sleep and wakefulness and Olivia feels like she's inside of some fantasy, that a fairy godmother has waved her magic wand and has transported her off to some foreign land, complete with ocean breezes and  _oh_ , it's such a lovely place to be, even more so as her mind returns to a full awakening and remembers that this is no fantasy, this is no dream, but this is heart-achingly real.

And so is the smile that spreads across her face.

Fitz walks into the room, bearing a tea tray with two cups already filled, smiling to see that she's awake. He sets the tray down on the nightstand, then leans down to greet her with a good morning kiss. "Hi."

She smiles back. "Hi."

Fitz lifts a brochure from the tray. "Explain to me again what the purpose of a white party is?"

"An excuse to play dress up." Olivia explained. " _Extra_  dress up.  _Extreme_  dress up."

"How extreme?"

"Not only is everyone dressed in white, we're talking tuxes and tails."

"Really?"

"Really. I've never actually attended one myself, but…"

"So we have a reason to go." Fitz said. "Something new to the both of us."

"True - and if I remember right, you are devastatingly handsome in a tux with tails."

"Am I?"

"You are."

"Well, it's not like you aren't eye candy either, you know." His eyes soften. "And you know that I would love to see you all dressed in white."

They both knew exactly what he meant and it hung in the air between them.

"I'll have to go shopping." Olivia said. "I need to find something special."

Fitz's hand found its way to her face, fingers tracing her delicate jawline. "You are my something special." He murmured just before he leaned forward and brushed his mouth against hers. The unspoken vision of Olivia dressed in white lingered between them and the emotion it invoked turned the kiss sweet and slow and tender, the softest mingling of lips and tongue that left them both a little light-headed and dazed when at last they drew apart.

His heart is in his eyes, Olivia realizes as her eyes open again and it says everything that she's waited a lifetime to hear. Difficult, devastating, life-changing, extraordinary love - it was here right in front of her and if she didn't know it before, then she definitely knows it now - she's made the right decisions for her life and his…

The smile she gave him was brilliant.

"Olivia Pope, what's going on inside that mind of yours?"

Her smile grew even wider. "Ask me later."

**New Year's Eve**

**Thirty Minutes Until Midnight**

So here they were, on a beautiful and elegantly decorated yacht beneath the tropical stars on New Year's Eve, just another couple among a crowd of happy laughing people. If there was a better way to start the new year, Fitz couldn't think of one.

Well, actually he  _could_  - but this… this was foreplay to the fantasies dancing in his head. Fitz could already imagine the limo ride back to the bungalow.

"I learned something while you were off tracking down more champagne." Fitz said. "The upper deck is closed off until midnight - I bet it's something big. Some kind of fireworks display, probably."

Probably." Olivia agreed.

She smiled up at him and Fitz wondered at the light in her eyes. "I can't think of a better way to bring in the new year's than this." He told her.

"I bet that I can do better than fireworks." Before he can question her challenge, Olivia leaned against him, suddenly on tip-toe as her mouth claimed his, lips dewy-soft and a special kind of sweet from the champagne and her kiss was just as intoxicating…

"How's that for fireworks?" she murmured wickedly when she was done.

She was right and he was dazzled. The ride back to the bungalow was going to be torture.

Fitz couldn't wait.

And neither could Olivia. "I need to find the little girls' room. I think I've had a little bit too much champagne."

"We do seem to have developed a taste for the bubbly, haven't we?" he said as he grinned down at her.

"I could think of worse habits to develop." Olivia pointed out. She lifted one hand to the back of his neck and urged him down for another brief kiss. "Keep it warm for me?"

"Warm isn't the word for it, Livvie, I promise you that." Fitz reached for her hand and held it tightly in hers. Midnight was fast approaching and it was suddenly urgent that he let Olivia know what was in his heart right now, right this minute. "Do you have any idea how much you've - blossomed - in the last few days? And how much I've loved watching it happen?"

"Getting loved on - especially the way that you do it - probably has something to do with it." Olivia said.

"Loved on." Fitz played the phrase over in his mind and decided that he liked it. A lot. "I think I like the sound of that."

"Thank you for loving me always, Fitz. Because of you; because of your love, I can face our future together." Her eyes went serious for a moment. "Can you say the same?"

"I asked my heart that the moment I looked into your eyes for the very first time. And the answer was - you were my destiny."

Her eyes glowed. "I'd better go before I embarrass myself by crying or something…"

"We can't be having that, can we? Hurry back." He said. It was corny and he knew it, but Fitz couldn't help himself. "You know I hate to see you go…"

But this time, Olivia didn't let him finish. "- but I am never going to leave you, Mr. President…" she laughed and blew him a kiss.

He reached out his hand as though to catch it, then closed his hand and held it to his heart, which earned him a final dazzling smile; Fitz laughed again as she turned away, purposefully, playfully putting a little extra sway in her steps, watching her until she's lost to his sight among the other guests. His smile lingers on his face as he turns to look out over the ocean in the night, to study the dark waves surrounding the ship, the endless waves drawing his thoughts inward. He's happy - happier than he'd ever thought that he'd ever have the right to be.

If Olivia has blossomed then so has he.

Every time he thinks he cannot love this woman more, she proves him wrong. Fitz had been telling the truth; Olivia has blossomed here; maybe they both have, but it's as though a door has opened in her soul and whether she's let something in or let something free, he doesn't care.

He used to hope that one day Olivia would let him see all of her but he's grown as well. Now he knows that she's the most precious jewel that he has ever seen, will ever see; that there are a million facets to this woman and even she doesn't know her own depths, but where the light shines, she sparkles. All he wants is what he's always wanted, to have the life he wants - with this woman that he loves…

He'll wait before he asks her - he'll wait for as long as he has to, but Fitz thinks that maybe - just maybe - Olivia is ready to answer with a yes. He thinks, he hopes that maybe - just maybe - they're both finally ready for that next step.

Maybe they could even come back here on their honeymoon. The thought fills him with a fierce sense of joy that makes him laugh out loud.

Just as Fitz is starting to wonder what's taking Olivia so long, a waiter taps him on the shoulder and respectfully informs him that Ms. Pope has requested his presence on the upper deck and he's smiling, because of course Olivia would arrange something like this, a private dance beneath the moonlight and his smile widens as he sees the private cordoned off staircase the waiter is guiding him to because there are flowering vines twisted along the balustrade leading him upward and his chest begins to pound with anticipation…

He comes to the top of the stairs and everything in him goes still, even his heart seems to skip a beat in wonder…

There are tiny white fairy lights  _everywhere_ , and softly billowy white sheets hung on golden frames that gleamed in the light establishing a golden circle of light…

But then, there are hands reaching out from behind those scenes and faces that he'd never expected to see here - his daughter, Karen, with flowers in her hair - and she's holding a portrait of Gerry in a white frame. For a moment tears sting his eyes, but then they pass because of the radiance in her smile.

Fitz's heart begins racing as he sees Cyrus and Michael and then Olivia's OPA family. Quinn and her husband, Charlie; Huck, who is a man that Fitz has trouble remembering if he's ever seen smiling, has the softest one on his face now. Even Stephen, from somewhere beyond the ends of the earth is here. And Abby, Olivia's best friend is here, holding a portrait of Harrison in a white frame that is identical to the one that holds the image of his son, both of them family that were gone too soon but their presence evoked here and now sets Fitz's body to trembling and he wonders briefly if anyone can see how much his hands are shaking, how much his heart is hoping…

And standing beyond all of them at the far end of the deck was Olivia, standing with Sir Richard. The captain and owner of the yacht grins at him, but Fitz only has eyes for Olivia.

And in this moment he's reminded - not for the first time, and not for the last time - that there's nothing that  _this_  woman -  _his_  woman - cannot do.

_There is nothing that his woman cannot do._

And what's she done is the impossible.

She's wearing some lacy confection edged with tiny subtly sparkling crystals over her gown that makes it over into something as close as to magic as his heart can accept in this moment. He's overwhelmed at the sight of her, the most delicate hood frames her face before trailing down into a pool of pale radiance that transforms it into the perfect wedding train.

There are pearls at her throat and ears that weren't there before, along with the most beautiful smile on her face and the words radiant and luminous and magical come to mind but they are nowhere close, in no way compare to the stars in her eyes.

Walking slowly, as if he's in a dream, Fitz feels himself move forward to stand before her and he's looking down at her like this is the most marvelous dream and if he's somehow suddenly impossibly dreaming then he never ever wants to wake up.

"Ask me now, Fitz." Olivia looks up at him, eyes glowing. "Ask me for forever."

He answers without a second's hesitation. "Marry me, Olivia Pope." He breathes the words as though they were a prayer and in a way, they were.

She laughs then, this vision in white and gold, this angel with the most incredible eyes…

From somewhere comes the voice of two violins with a simple piano accompaniment softly playing; somehow they're the perfect counterpoint to the sounds of the ocean surrounding them, ebbing and flowing, winding one about the other, casting the perfect spell.

_"You're all I need to get by_

_"Like the sweet morning dew, I took one look at you,_

_"And it was plain to see, you were my destiny…_

Her gaze turns from his briefly; his follows - just in time to see Teddy and Ella, walking towards them side by side, each of them dressed in white, each of them holding small golden bowls, each of them wide-eyed with the excitement of being up  _way_  past their bedtimes, of being somewhere exciting and unfamiliar, and Fitz's heart can barely stand to see the wonder on their faces, and there was Karen and Cyrus and Michael beaming with pride, and he can sense all the joy and happiness coming from all the rest as Ella began scattering pale flower petals, while Teddy concentrated, determined on holding onto the contents of his.

Fitz has guessed rightly what Teddy was holding, a set of platinum wedding bands nestled on a bed of gold silk. Olivia bends down and kisses them both, then she's taking her ring and placing it in his hand before claiming his for her own.

Her touch grounds him. The world takes on a clarity that impresses this moment into eternity as the words he's dreamed of speaking, the words he's dreamed of hearing in a thousand fantasies are suddenly, finally irrevocably made real.

"I, Olivia Carolyn Pope, take you, Fitzgerald Thomas Grant the Third…"

"I, Fitzgerald Thomas Grant the Third, take you, Olivia Carolyn Pope…"

Vows are spoken, to love and to cherish from this day forth, until death do us part and there's a voice in Fitz's mind that tells him that probably not even that will part them.

He is hers for eternity.

When they are finally pronounced man, Fitz draws back the wedding hood of Olivia Carolyn Pope-Grant and then he's kissing her and kissing her and kissing her. A part of him notes that there are fireworks exploding overhead, but they're nothing compared to the stars in Olivia's eyes.

The next little while passes in a blur of champagne toasts beneath arcs of multi-colored explosions, in laughter, in a first dance and more kisses that tasted of wedding cake. And then the yacht had docked and they were back on shore where there were more hugs and laughter and not a few tears and then it was him and Olivia in the backseat of a limo, speeding along the beach back to his bungalow.

As soon as the door had closed behind them, Fitz had pulled Olivia into his lap, his arms holding her close. She responded by wrapping her arms around his neck and they spent the next few minutes just gazing into one another's eyes.

"Mrs. Grant." Fitz finally dared breathed the words aloud. "Wife."

"Mr. Grant." Olivia smiled back at him. "Husband."

They reach their destination and of course Fitz has to sweep her up into his arms and carry her over the threshold with so much love and laughter and once they're inside, it's obvious immediately that Olivia has been working her magic once again. The house is dim, except for the glow coming from the living room, which he follows, to find the Christmas tree redecorated from top to bottom, the festive multicolored decor all redone in tiny white lights and crystal and silver and gold, lighting the space with the most romantic glow.

"Wow." Fitz said as he lets her down from his arms slowly, but still holds her close. "You're incredible."

She gives him a look and the tiniest hint of mischief dances at the corners of her smile. "I am."

Olivia feels incredible, truthfully, she can't believe how incredible she feels, if Fitz were to let her go, she felt as though she'd float straight up to the ceiling and maybe beyond it as well.

She feels as though she could soar straight to the moon, to let the stars spark and dance against her skin… but Fitz's arms around her are grounding her and this moment of reality is better than any fantasy that she could ever dream of.

Words are suddenly an unnecessary thing. In a perfect silence, Fitz's hands drift down to her waist while Olivia's hands move to come to rest on his shoulders. Their eyes close as he leans down and she leans in and then their foreheads are touching as they breath one another's air.

One minute. And their hearts fall into sync.

She can sense when he begins to smile. "What?"

"I think we celebrated the honeymoon before the wedding."

She thought about that for a second, and then she's smiling too. "Well, to be honest, when did we ever do anything by the book?"

"I love you, Olivia." He says with a sigh.

"I love you more, no backsies."

And this is the moment where the rest of their lives begin.

**~ end ~**


End file.
